National experts from the Council of the European Union's Working Party on Land Transport will meet on Thursday 9 January to discuss the differences between the Council's position and that of the European Parliament on the European Commission's proposal to revise the Regulation (1371/2007) on rail passengers' rights and obligations. In particular, to better protect passengers in the event of delays or cancellations.
Thus, according to a document of the previous (Finnish) Council Presidency in preparation for this meeting, several "key policy issues" require the attention of experts. The aim is to identify possible compromises in order to facilitate future negotiations with Parliament ('trilogues').
Scope. Among these issues, perhaps the most thorny is whether or not to include the 'force majeure clause' in the regulation.
Included in the European Commission's initial proposal (see EUROPE 11872/6), this clause provides that in the event of a train being delayed, a railway undertaking is not obliged to pay compensation if it can prove that the delay was caused by bad weather conditions or major natural disasters and could not reasonably have been foreseen or avoided.
While Parliament had decided to delete this clause in its position adopted on 16 November 2018 (see EUROPE 12138/7), the agreement ('general approach') reached between the Member States on 2 December 2019 strengthened it (see EUROPE 12381/5).
According to the Council's position, the exemption would cover not only delays and cancellations due to extreme weather conditions or major natural disasters, but also delays and cancellations caused by the behaviour of a third party which the railway undertaking could not reasonably avoid and whose consequences it could not prevent, such as suicides, persons on the track, theft of cables, emergencies on board, law enforcement activities, sabotage or terrorism.
Strikes by railway undertaking staff, acts or omissions by other undertakings using the same railway infrastructure and acts or omissions by infrastructure and station managers would not be covered by the exemption.
Still on the scope of the Regulation, the Council also maintained the possibility of exempting urban, suburban and regional services from certain provisions of the text, whereas the Parliament wants this exemption to apply only to urban services.
Compensation for delay. Another issue that could prove problematic during the trilogues is the calculation of the minimum compensation for delays of 60 minutes or more.
The Council retained the Commission's proposal which would set these minimum compensations at 25% of the ticket price for a delay of 60 to 119 minutes and 50% of the ticket price for a delay of 120 minutes or more.
For its part, Parliament has changed these thresholds, making them more favourable to travellers. According to its position, the minimum compensation would be 50% of the ticket price for a delay of 60 to 90 minutes, 75% of the ticket price for a delay of 91 to 120 minutes and 100% of the ticket price for a delay of 121 minutes or more.
Bicycle transport. With regard to the rules applicable when travelling by bicycle, the positions of the co-legislators also differ, with Parliament's position further strengthening the right of passengers to carry bicycles on board.
Parliament wants all new or refurbished passenger trains to include a clearly designated area for the transport of assembled bicycles, with a minimum of eight spaces, no later than 2 years after the date of entry into force of the regulation.
The agreement reached in the Council does not provide for any such obligation for railway undertakings and also includes a number of cases in which railway undertakings could restrict a passenger's right to travel by bicycle.
Thus, in addition to being able to limit this right for operational or safety reasons such as capacity limits at peak times - in line with the Commission's original proposal - the Council proposes that railway companies should also be able to prohibit a passenger from travelling with his or her bicycle because of its weight and dimensions. (Original version in French by Damien Genicot)